Oh My! Thank you both soo much...It is probably the listing with Matilda. That is one of his daughter's names. I cant wait to get home from work this afternoon and pour through those sites. Thank you also on the well wishes for my son. He will be flying into Ft. Drum today at 2:55 with his unit...then after a week of "decompression", theyll fly on into Morgantown airport....We are finally at the end of a very long year. Thank you both again. Jaynie Prete

Mrs. Prete,
I have come across several Prete family records in my Caccuri research since you posted your message. I've been jotting down the information for you. I'd be happy to email the information to you or post it here on the forum or I can snail mail it to you. Whatever you would prefer.

Hi, I just found this website and you posted this message a long time ago. I was surprised to see that your husband's family came from Caccuri and went to Boomer. My great grandfather (I'm 26) Agostino Falbo came from Caccuri and worked in the mines in Boomer.

I have been back to Caccuri the past 2 years and have found my grandmother's 1st cousin and even cousins my age. It is a wonderful place.

Hi Laura,
Welcome to the Italian Genealoy forum. You'll find a wealth of information here! I know I did.

My grandmother's family was from Caccuri. I have never been there but I would absolutely love to go someday. I have traced my Caccuri ancestry through the LDS microfilm. I will send you a private message on this site regarding the Falbo family.

Hello,
I was browsing Caccuri and found this site with some interesting responses. Unbelievable how many people came from Caccuri to Boomer WV. My family also settled in Boomer. My grandfather, Pietro Lopez, came in 1914. After doing some research and visiting Caccuri, I found that our name was actually Lopezzi. So I changed my name back to the orginal and very proud of it.

As for the Patron Saint of Caccuri, it is San Rocco. This Church of San Rocco was a small beautiful church and the statue of San Rocco in the churched was literally untouched for 1000's of years according to my relatives. My grandfather was an alter boy at this church. Legend has it that San Rocco was helpful to the sick and when he got sick, only a dog would bring him pane. At the foot of the statue proudly sits the little dog with a loaf of pane in his mouth. Just though I'd through that tidbit in.

To Laura Falbo. Who are you? I know your family very well. You have to be a niece of Al Falbo from Smithers WV, the next town from Boomer.

Caccuri is a remarkable place. Very ancient, holy and its people are very proud and respectful and they expect the same. Caccuri is the real Italia. Its fields are full of fig and olive trees. Prickly pear trees are a treat to most. One or two older men in the village normally will strip the thorns from the pears as people wait in line to buy them.

You are right. There are only a few people left and they are getting old. Ironically, just like in Boomer, WV. Boomer even looks like Caccuri where houses were built on the side of the mountain.

Welcome, Biaggio, welcome! I am always happy to meet someone with ancestors from Caccuri. And as a native West Virginian I am happy to meet you also.

I am jealous of your trip to Caccuri. I have seen so many beautiful photographs of the town on the internet and in books that I feel as if I know it well. I can only imagine the joy of actually being there. Perhaps someday I will be so lucky.

I look back at my first post on this thread and laugh. I have come a long way in the last 4 years. Here is a webiste (in English) with some great information on Saint Rocco.

Hi Donna,
Nice to meet you also. I will go through my pictures of the church and town, and my new cousins and I and upload them. Again I can't tell you how exciting and wonderful it was just to walk through the same streets where my nonno was born and walked. Let alone meeting my ancestrial relatives. It was absolutely fantastic. I will definitely go back as soon as I possibly can. Take care. I'll send pictures soon.

My great grandfather also came from Caccuri to Boomer, Wv. His name was Agostino Falbo. I will ask my grandmother if she remembers these names to see if she can give any info. She is 93 and lived in Boomer as a child. She is beginning to write stories about her life there in the coal camp. They are very interesting. I can send them to you if you would like some info about Boomer, back then. Also there is a book that a women wrote a few years back ... I'll have to think of the name, and it is about her life growing up in Boomer, I think. I'll check on it.

I happened upon this website and these posts on Caccuri and had to write and ask some questions. My grandparents were both from Cacurri and came separately to Boomer from Italy. I visited Caccuri about 6 years ago and found my dad's cousin (they knew my dad who had visited them many times in WWII when he was stationed in Foggia) which was such a thrill. At that time I was trying to do some genealogy research online and I tried to find out some info while there but didn't have enough time there. I let it go for a while and was looking again now cause my dad just died 2 weeks ago at 93 and I realize I should have gotten him to write more down.

I have some info but am still trying to piece lots of things together. I think Biagio may be a relative of mine. My dad and grandfather were Oliverio's but my dad's mother, Maria Angela or Marianna Giermonti was married first to an Antonio Secreti who died in the mines in Boomer - apparently while she and their daughter Philomena Secreti were still in Italy or just before they arrived in Boomer. My grandfather who had been in love with her in Caccuri married her shortly after she arrived since she was widowed, I guess. Her daughter Philomena was my dad's half sister and married Pete Lopez and had a large family. When Biagio says her/his grandfather was Pietro Lopez, I am guessing that was him. I am curious to know who was Biagio's mother and father? I visited Charleston all the time (and Boomer occasionally) and knew all of my Lopez cousins. We always wondered why their name was Lopez if they were Italian - now I know - makes sense - Lopezzi.

Also, Laura "ldineen" mentioned her great grandfather Agostino Falbo - I heard my dad and aunts and uncles talk about him all the time. My grandfather moved to Coraopolis, PA when my dad was 9 to get away from the mines and some of the other Boomer residents moved there also but they went back to Boomer all the time. I am really trying to find out more about my grandfather getting here - there are Bernardo Oliverio's on the Ellis Isand site but they are not him - I think he arrived around 1902. One of my cousins and I have done a little research but much of it is confusing. My nonna came later as I said and I am trying to figure out who the Lucia Oliverio who came with her and her daughter was - logic would say it was my grandad's mother with that name but his mother was not Lucia and it appears it was her mother but I don't know why Ellis Island says her last name was Oliverio. I wonder if Laura could see if her 93-year-old grandmother knew my dad - she must have - they were the same age - he was Charlie Oliverio (Pasquale but nicknamed Charlie like his grandmother's second husband he said who was also Pasquale nicknamed Charlie and was a barber in Boomer back then?). It would be fascinating to know what your grandmother knows about them and also I would love the name of the book you say a woman who grew up in Boomer wrote. If you have that please email it to me at janice.oliver@am.sony.com.

I have a a lot of info but also many questions but have already written too long a post so..........more later. I second that Cacurri is beautiful and I hope to go back soon. My dad's cousin I met there was his age and not sure if she is still alive - it was 6 years ago but you are right - it is all older people - she said there are no jobs there so the young people grow up, go to school and get jobs in northern Italy so the town is dying.

Hope to hear from one of you soon.

Jan Oliver (our name was never legally changed I am told - schools and work just knocked the io off and they left it that way. I have thought of changing it back like Biagio did ...............

Jan,
Oh my goodness. Isn't it a small world!! Ok, before I start jumping up and down.... You said you remember your dad and aunts and uncles talking about Agostino Falbo??? Ok, I have found there were a couple, from Caccuri, but they all weren't the same age. What do you remember them saying about him? I wonder if it was my great grandfather they were talking about?? I do have cousins (falbo's and Lucente's) that settled in Corapolis. In fact, they are still there.
I will ask my grandmother if she remember's your dad's name. And I will get the name of the book I mentioned from my mom.
you can email me at ldineen @ hotmail.com

Donna and Laura -
I am so excited about this - I am in the middle of a bunch of work junk so limited time right this minute, but I will email both of you later today to tell you what I know and see if we can figure out our connections. Laura - In Coraopolis as a kid, I have met Falbo's and one of the Lucente's, Tom, (now deceased and eventually moved to CA) was my godfather and my dad's best friend. His kids - who I have not been in touch with for many years - probably still live in Fullerton, CA or somewhere near there. I guess since all these people came from the same place in Italy-either Caccuri or San Giovanni in Fiore - and moved to the same places together (Boomer and Coraopolis), it was inevitable lot of them would end up related or were before. Donna - it seems the Oliverio's must have originaly been from SG in Fiore - when I was there there were signs of someone running for mayor of SG in Fiore whose name was Oliverio. More later - I feel Like I have found a treasure - thanks!

This is exciting isn't it??
The only Oliverio that I can find in my family tree is a Filomenia Oliverio that married Vincenzo(Jim) Luncente. Jim was my great grandfather's cousin. My grandmother called him "uncle Jim" he operated a store in Charleston, Wv. (Kanawha City). Jim's mother was a falbo (Marguisseppe (maria) Falbo. Jim had a brother Bartelo (Bart) that went to Pittsburgh and took my grandmother's brother Ralph Falbo with him. Bart and Jim also had a brother Fancesco Lucente married to Franceschina Flabo and had a daughter Giuseppina Lucente.

My cousin Ralph ran the Pleasure Bar in Pittsbugh for years, have you ever heard of that?

I know I still have Falbo cousins in Corap.
John Falbo.

Joe Falbo, who lives in Florida now was from Corap. And his dad was Agostino, but not my great grandfather Agostino.

Donna, I found Iaconis-Falbo documents you sent me a couple of years ago and just now figured out how they fit!

Hello to all - and especially to Donna - it's been awhile since ive talked with you! Hello to everyone - my husband's grandfather was Salvatore Prete - he was from Cacurri - his grandmother was Serafina Belcastro, and her family was from San Giovanni de Fiore - Both famlies settled in Boomer, WV - Serafina and Salvatore moved to Morgantown after their children were born. My husband and I hope to travel to Cacurri and San Giovanni at some point in the next few years.

We had talked a couple of years ago, about our families.
I just wanted to get some more info from you.

You said that your grandmother was first married to an Antonio Secreti, do you have any information about him. I have Secreto's in my family and wanted to see if there was any connection.

I talked to Biagio Lopezzi and he said that Al Falbo always said that the Lopezzi's and the Falbo's were related, and I think I have figured out it was because of the Secreto link. Al's mom was a Secreto, my great grandfather's mom was a Secreto and you mentioned your grandmother first married Antonio secreto and that their daughter Filomena was a Secreto and then married an Oliverio correct?

I asked my grandma (Rose Falbo) if she remembered your dad Charlie, but she couldn't remember him. My grandmother is 96. And lived in Boomer from 1914-1927+/-.

You had mentioned before that you thought I was a niece of Al Falbo. I'm not but our families are cousins. Al's dad and my great grandfather were 1st cousins. Really they were double related cousins because their mom's were sisters (Secreto's) and cousins because their fathers (Falbo) were 1st cousins... Pretty much, all of the Falbo's in the Charleston area are related, and the ones in Pittsburgh too. Do you know the Marshall sisters in Boomer? They are my cousins because their Grandmother Catarina DeMarco was a Falbo.

Anyway, you mentioned once that you remember hearing about an Agostino Falbo growing up. I am thinking that was one of my great grandfather's 1st cousins, (there were a few all named the same). My great grandfather died in Boomer in 1921. But, his son Ralph went to Coraopolis with my great grandfather's 1st cousin Bart Lucente. Ralph's son Ralph still lives in Pittsburgh. What do you remember about the Agostino you did hear about?

I have info in my tree about a Filomena Oliverio marrying a Vincenzo Lucente (Jim) they lived in Boomer, then Charleston. Vincenzo (Jim) was the brother to Bart Lucente in Coraopolis. Does that ring any bells?

The typical Italian lineage dates from circa 1600, and for most of us that's reasonably profound. But who wants to be "typical" when you might be able to trace a lineage into the 1500s or even into the Middle Ages? Because success in this field requires practice and perseverance, as well as skills m...

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